Help with solar upgrade

[gmillerok1]

I have a 2011 AI, and it came with a 60 watt panel. I removed the panel and found that it is connected with 2 12 awg wires through a small plastic conduit that is held in place with a 90 degree plastic connector at one end that is apparently screwed on with a locknut on the other side of the roof, and in a location that is not at all easy to get to without removing the upper cabinets.

My plan is running new 10 awg to a combiner box from AMSolar from a 100 watt panel (along with two other panels).

My question is has anyone figured out what to do with the existing wire conduit and connector that goes through the roof?

[Titus]

I replaced the standard panel with two 100 W panels. I ran two 10 Ga wires down through the existing plastic fitting. It took a lot of pushing and pulling but it can be done. Spraying with silicon first would have probably helped. I did not remove the cabinets but did remove the access panel at the rear edge of the cabinet. IF you want to PM me with your e-mail address I'll send you the details of my project. Did it several years back and everything has worked great.

[BurntAsphalt]

Originally Posted by Titus

I replaced the standard panel with two 100 W panels. I ran two 10 Ga wires down through the existing plastic fitting. It took a lot of pushing and pulling but it can be done. Spraying with silicon first would have probably helped. I did not remove the cabinets but did remove the access panel at the rear edge of the cabinet. IF you want to PM me with your e-mail address I'll send you the details of my project. Did it several years back and everything has worked great.

Titus,
Is stranded or solid copper wire preferred on these RV solar upgrades?

[gmillerok1]

Originally Posted by BurntAsphalt

Titus,
Is stranded or solid copper wire preferred on these RV solar upgrades?

Stranded.

[rmkrum]

And bigger if at all possible.

[Titus]

I used a Blue Sky controller. I ran 8 ga stranded wire for the long run back to the controller. Unfortunately the screw terminals on the controller were too small to connect the 8 ga wire, so I snipped off a few strands until the remainder fit on the screw terminal. I searched for a ring terminal or U terminal that would accept 8 ga wire and fit on the screw terminal, but could not find one.

[pdavitt]

Originally Posted by Titus

I used a Blue Sky controller. I ran 8 ga stranded wire for the long run back to the controller. Unfortunately the screw terminals on the controller were too small to connect the 8 ga wire, so I snipped off a few strands until the remainder fit on the screw terminal. I searched for a ring terminal or U terminal that would accept 8 ga wire and fit on the screw terminal, but could not find one.

You did not mention the screw terminal size, but 8 AWG connectors are available for #6,8, and 10 screw sizes. The URL for one source is below:


https://www.digikey.com/products/en/...=1&pageSize=25


Pat

[Titus]

The problem was not with the screw size. There are little plastic tabs that divide the various screw terminals - to keep one wire or terminal from touching the next. The distance between these tabs was narrower than the width of a terminal that would fit the screw. I considered using a butt splice to switch from 8 ga to 10 ga just before the controller, but decided just to remove a few strands and essentially turn my 8 ga into 10 ga. The purist would say that I didn't really do that, because 10 ga would have more smaller size strands instead of fewer large size strands. But close enough...

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

I have a 2011 AI, and it came with a 60 watt panel. I removed the panel and found that it is connected with 2 12 awg wires through a small plastic conduit that is held in place with a 90 degree plastic connector at one end that is apparently screwed on with a locknut on the other side of the roof, and in a location that is not at all easy to get to without removing the upper cabinets.

My plan is running new 10 awg to a combiner box from AMSolar from a 100 watt panel (along with two other panels).

My question is has anyone figured out what to do with the existing wire conduit and connector that goes through the roof?

I just plugged the hole in my roof as I used a different location closer to the place I want to drop the wire inside the closet on passenger side.

Sounds like you are going to have a total of 300 watts of solar. At that level you should run wire heavier than 10 AWG. I have 400 watts and ran 6 AWG as recommended by AM Solar. Attached is a wiring diagram of my current 12 VDC setup.

[iaqstuff]

I installed three AMSolar panels, but since their 100w were too big for the space occupied by the 50w stock panel, I simply left it in place and added it via the stock wiring to the others via a bus bar.

[Paprika]

"The distance between these tabs was narrower than the width of a terminal that would fit the screw."

I've encountered this annoying problem of too-small terminals with several brands of solar controllers. One can clip a few strands, as you did--voltage drop in that final half inch is insignificant--or butt-splice a pigtail of smaller wire onto the larger cable. If using ring terminals that don't quite fit between the plastic separator tabs, it's possible to grind off the side of the rings until they fit. I've done that once or twice.

[toskeysam]

When Lew did my upgrade he left it in place and forever entombed in Sikaflex....inside and out.

[gmillerok1]

Originally Posted by toskeysam

When Lew did my upgrade he left it in place and forever entombed in Sikaflex....inside and out.

LOL! Well, not forever as I discovered on my last trip.

I think if I can remove it I will do so, and place a few layers of alumimun tape, and then bury it under SIKA 221 with a good perimeter around it. Otherwise, I likely will do the same as Lew.

MY van unfortunately has to reside outside and in the sun.

SIKA 221 has, apparently, a roof life of about 7 years, as we discovered when we had a hard, long rain on our last trip when it rained inside.

After it stopped, I got a ladder and took a look, and the SIKA 221 around the vent van was missing in a spot or two. And what was left was easily pushed off with my finger. A quick silicone job to last the trip fixed that problem for the short term. Advice: Inspect the roof occasionally if you store the van outside.

As part of my solar upgrade, while on the roof removing the 60 watt panel and the TV antenna, I inspected the caulk around the vents and fan vent. It needed removed and replaced around the fan vent and on one of the bath vents (I had replaced one later). The SIKA was very friable in some places.

A new coat will be applied.

While I'm at it, does anyone have a suggestion as to how to smoothly put SIKA on? The last time looks pretty ugly, but worked.

How does Airstream installers get that creamy smooth look, if anyone knows?

[iaqstuff]

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

LOL! Well, not forever as I discovered on my last trip.

I think if I can remove it I will do so, and place a few layers of alumimun tape, and then bury it under SIKA 221 with a good perimeter around it. Otherwise, I likely will do the same as Lew.

MY van unfortunately has to reside outside and in the sun.

SIKA 221 has, apparently, a roof life of about 7 years, as we discovered when we had a hard, long rain on our last trip when it rained inside.

After it stopped, I got a ladder and took a look, and the SIKA 221 around the vent van was missing in a spot or two. And what was left was easily pushed off with my finger. A quick silicone job to last the trip fixed that problem for the short term. Advice: Inspect the roof occasionally if you store the van outside.

As part of my solar upgrade, while on the roof removing the 60 watt panel and the TV antenna, I inspected the caulk around the vents and fan vent. It needed removed and replaced around the fan vent and on one of the bath vents (I had replaced one later). The SIKA was very friable in some places.

A new coat will be applied.

While I'm at it, does anyone have a suggestion as to how to smoothly put SIKA on? The last time looks pretty ugly, but worked.

How does Airstream installers get that creamy smooth look, if anyone knows?

I'd assume they use the self-leveling SIKAs.

[gmillerok1]

Maybe, but I think they use a putty knife and painter's tape. I finished up the fan vent, the bath vent, and the various holes left over after removing the antenna and mounts for the 60 watt panel this evening. It was quit laborious to remove all the old Sika and clean the area with alcohol, but it looks much better and should not leak again for some time.

I ordered the three panels, the Victron 30 amp charge controller and battery monitor, and various items needed for the install.

After I get the panels and install them, I'll work on the inside next.

[Titus]

I tried grinding several different terminals to fit. But I ended up with such a small amount of material remaining that I thought I'd have better contact with the trimmed strands. I was also guessing that there was less resistance in trimmed 8 ga than a butt-spliced 8 to 10 ga connection.

You must have had a different Airstream person building yours than I did building mine. Mine is anything but 'creamy smooth'. I'd describe mine as 'ugly as hell'. Saving grace is that is only seen by me a few times a year when I wash it. In their defense my caulk job did not look much better. Silicon can be smoothed fairly well with a wet finger, but I did not have the same luck with Sika.

[wachuko]

Smoothing Sika was a pita...

This is what mine looked like from the factory:





And after I added some more and tried to make it better in terms of coverage and looks:





It was Maggie that pointed out some concerns with what it looked like originally... that is what got me to go over all of them. Used tape to limit where it went to and used a plastic spreader to smooth it out...

[gmillerok1]

Is that the awning entry point? Is there not even anything other than the hole the wire goes into? Looks like they changed how they did it on mine.

On mine they used a very cheap plastic coax entry plate- this for four cables, which didn't fit well and possibly could have allowed water to follow down the cable wrap down the hole. I replaced it with a plastic conduit box with water proof connectors long ago, and will replace that with the AMSolar combiner box using the same entry point to drop the solar cables as well as the awning and rear camera cables.

It's fun removing the old Sika, right?

[iaqstuff]

Originally Posted by gmillerok1

Is that the awning entry point? Is there not even anything other than the hole the wire goes into? Looks like they changed how they did it on mine.

On mine they used a very cheap plastic coax entry plate- this for four cables, which didn't fit well and possibly could have allowed water to follow down the cable wrap down the hole. I replaced it with a plastic conduit box with water proof connectors long ago, and will replace that with the AMSolar combiner box using the same entry point to drop the solar cables as well as the awning and rear camera cables.

It's fun removing the old Sika, right?

I cleaned that awning and HD antenna entry area up and removed the factory plastic entry plate only to discover that wasn't the best place to bring down the cable from my combiner box. I put everything back, resealed it and entered above the wardrobe closet. Routing the cable down adjacent to the factory bundles to the electrical area was fairly easy. I must admit there's some anxiety involved with new roof penetrations, but if you take out the upper wardrobe closet wall you'll see the routing is easy and you can miss the Sprinter support columns when drilling. At least that is what worked best for me [emoji4]

[gmillerok1]

On the 2011 non-extended van, the access hole is just behind the curb side rear corner of the AC unit, which puts it just above and a bit to the center of the back of the area where the gauges are located. Unfortunately, they placed it where it is a couple of inches above and behind the aluminum ceiling which makes it a bit more of a challenge to access. In my unit, the area above the wardrobe is where the AC is located.

The access hole is accessible with a bit of difficulty after removing the instrument control face off where the other gauges are; from there, it goes to the wardrobe, then down to the seat, the back to the controller. I will remove the existing box I put in and replace it with the combiner box.

At least, I'm hoping I can snake 6-2 down and around there!